By InvestAdvocate

Click here to view Cordros Daily Market Update for March 23, 2017

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Nigerian equities market on Thursday closed flat, with the all-share index (ASI) unchanged at 25,514.03 points.

“Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns were unchanged at 0.73 percent and -5.06 percent respectively, reports Cordros daily market update.

The update says at the close of the trading session on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the Industrial Goods index appreciated by 3.38 percent as the shares of cement producer, Lafarge Wapco Nigeria Plc gained 8.47 to remain the toast of investors.

Likewise, the Consumer Goods and Insurance indices jumped 0.23 percent and 0.08 percent apiece to record gains, following demand for the shares of food and beverage producer, Nestle Nigeria Plc and insurer, AIICO Insurance Plc both climbing up 1.22 percent and 1.82 percent respectively.

On the flipside, Cordros reports the Oil & Gas and Banking indices slumped 3.58 percent and 0.04 percent to shed weight, following selloffs in the shares of first dual listed Nigerian oil and gas upstream firm, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc and Forte Oil Plc; both lost by 9.73 percent and 1.77 percent each. While Nigeria’s top tier lenders, Zenith Bank Plc and Access Bank Plc declined by 1.45 percent and 3.58 percent respectively.

At the close of the trading session on the Nigerian bourse, market breadth was positive, with 20 gainers versus 14 losers posted, according to NSE’s daily market statistics. WAPCO emerged the topmost gainer with a gain of N3.20 per share; while SEPLAT became the topmost loser with a loss of N38.72 per share.

In terms of turnover, total volume traded on the Nigerian equities market declined by 42.11 percent to 115.11 million shares, valued at N1.42 billion, and exchanged in 2,861 deals.

“We expect the market to close positive in tomorrow’s session,” the Cordros update affirmed.